On-Spot Fines for Careless Driving – what do we think?

Seems like yet another poorly
Seems like yet another poorly conceived action with a blind spot over cycling/car issues – worth reminding those appearing on radio & TV to comment on the announcement – especially Edmund King of AA, that this should apply to drivers who tailgate, cut up or overtake a cyclist badly.

We might go for the quid pro quo and get the FPN enforcement delivered for driving a carriage on the footway (HA 1835 s.72) for which cyclists are mercilessly hounded but drivers are the far greater offenders both in committing the offence (you cannot park a car on the footway without driving on the footway) and in killing pedestrians on a footway (around 40 deaths per year – by comparison less than 1 death every 2 years through cyclists riding on a footway). Just as speeding, red light running, and driving where prohibited can be prosecuted by photograph without the driver pictured the same can be applied to cars photographed on the footway.

my main concern would be that
my main concern would be that where there’s a lesser charge introduced for effectively the same misdemeanour, the greater charge hardly ever gets used. Look at the situation with careless and dangerous driving at the moment: since careless driving was introduced as an option, even killing people due to your reckless actions isn’t necessarily considered dangerous.

So what’s to say that the chap that knocked Greg off, for example, who’s up on a careless driving charge, won’t get away with a spot fine and slap on the wrist in the future?